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In an efford to provide the traveling public in the State of Florida with a cost-effective, high quality transportation infrastructure, the Florida DOT ana the FHP adopted and subseqently implemented an "Open Roads Policy" for faster clearence, safety, and mobility to make travel in FL safer and more efficient. The RISC program, a highly innovative heavy-duty towing and recovery program, supports Floridas Open Roads Policy, which establishes a 90-minute goal for clearance of a motor vehicle crash or incident on Floridas roadways. The purpose of the RISC program is to safely and quickly restore highway facilities for safe public use. This program is a major component of Floridas traffic incident management strategy.

TIM practitioners and managers, Public Outreach Specialists

Readers can view the RISC program annual reports of Fiscal Year 2012/2013.

This module sets forth a series of vetted best practices for drivers to follow when encountering emergency scenes on the roadway and suggests a variety of public outreach strategies to educate motorists about these best practices. These strategies, and the relationships formed to execute them, also provide conduits for disseminating critical public safety information during actual incidents. The module also shows examples of how these strategies have been successfully implemented in the past.

TIM practitioners and managers, Public Outreach Specialists

Readers can sign into the ResponderSafety.com module to participate in the module for public outreach strategies dealing with TIM.

This traveler information mobile app is available to download for free in the iPhone App store as well as on Android Marketplace. The Traveler Information App offers the same information as the online version but with the convenience of mobility. User are able to see the entire state at a glance for areas that may be affect by workzones, incidents of 30 minutes or more, or congestion.

TIM practicioners and managers

Readers can download and view the mobile app for traveler information related to incidents, road weather, work zones, or congestion.

Metro Atlanta Traffic Incident Management Enhancement (TIME) Task force has a Board of Directors and initiatives are supported by four committees: Communications, Operations, programs, and Training. The Board of Directors meet monthly, the TIME task force meets quarterly and a TIME conference is held annually.

This website provides an overview of the Las Vegas TIM Coalition, launched in 2008 (See related document: Las Vegas TIM Coalition Area Open Roads Partnership Agreement) The Coalition is looking to move into measuring and monitoring performance measures in the next year, and is currently looking at the impacts of secondary crashes on mobility. According to this website, the University of Nevada - Las Vegas found that 22% of crashes in the area are considered secondary crashes. The website includes a map of the TIM area boundaries, real-time traffic reports, information on the TIM Coalition, and the dates for upcoming meetings for the group.

TIM practitioners and professionals looking to begin a multiagency TIM program or coalition in their area would benefit from viewing this website as an example TIM program.

Users can view this website to see an overview of what the Las Vegas TIM Coalition is doing with regard to TIM performance measurement, gain a feel for the operational structure of this TIM Coalition and outcomes from their meetings, and see sample documents produced by the Coalition.

Established in 2002, the Bay Area IMTF is an interagency committee comprised of staff from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 4, California Highway Patrol (CHP) Golden Gate Division, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and allied first responder agencies. The goal of the Bay Area IMTF is aligned with the National Unified Goal for traffic incident management: Responder safety; Safe and quick clearance; Prompt reliable interoperable communications; Enhanced inter-agency coordination, cooperation, collaboration and communication.
The objectives of the IMTF are accomplished through the deployment of cost effective strategies to enhance traffic incident detection, verification, mitigation, response and clearance.
The IMTF serves as the staff committee of the Freeway Management Executive Committee (FMEC), a policy committee comprised of executive staff of Caltrans, CHP and MTC.

511 is a one-stop resource for all the information you need to make statewide traveling as easy and reliable as possible. Using state-of-the art technology, 511 provides you with real-time traffic information anywhere you are, anytime you need them.
In Virginia, there are three ways to access 511 information. You can use the 511virginia.org website or call 511 from any land line or mobile phone. You can also use our 511 VDOT app for iOS and Android devices.
Through the website, you can also sign-up to receive personalized info sent directly to your e-mail or mobile device as a text message.

TIM practitioners interested in deploying a mobile app for a statewide 511 system

Readers can use this information as an example of integrating TIM with innovative mobile phone technology. Through the website, you can also sign-up to receive personalized info sent directly to your e-mail or mobile device as a text message.

Caltrans has a significant investment in Transportation Management Centers (TMCs) throughout the state. These operations centers are tasked with maintaining the safety and efficiency of California's highways by actively managing disruptions to the system caused by anticipated and unanticipated events that impact the available capacity and/or the demand to use individual facilities. Presently, however, no comprehensive methods are available to quantify the benefits of existing TMC deployments.
This research developed a method of evaluating TMC operations using data available from the Caltrans District 12 activity logging software and the Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS). For a given incident, the technique first models the extent of delay caused by the incident using a novel mathematically programming technique. This provides a baseline delay from which various what-if scenarios can be considered to explore who the absence of the TMC might increase delays incurred by travelers in the system. To support this method, changes were made to the District 12 activity log to record critical events during incident management.
The end product of the research is a web-based TMC Performance Evaluation (TMCPE) application that addresses this problem. The system allows TMC managers to evaluate the performance of various bundles of TMC technologies and operational policies by mapping their effects onto events in the system that can be measured using existing surveillance systems and daily activity logs. The resulting tool provides managers with the long needed capabilities to:
justify valuable technology, personnel allocations, and maintenance costs,
identify technologies that aren't meeting their initial promise, and
identify gaps in current operational strategies that might be filled with new technology deployments.
The evaluation method used considers delay savings that are attributable to specific TMC actions. All computations are based on direct measurement of the system using available sensors and do not rely on speculative simulation models requiring extensive assumptions.

TIM practitioners and TMC operatrrs

Readers can view the website to see an overview of the Caltrans TMC Performance Evaluation Program

Segmented lighting of fire response vehicles allows for additional control and provides the ability to turn on/off lighting on each side of the vehicle as not to impede the vision or sight of oncoming traffic and reduce distractions while driving.

The Capital Wireless Information Net (CapWIN) is a regional coalition of public safety and transportation agencies across Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Government whose mission is to enable and promote interoperable data communications, operational data access, and incident coordination and situational awareness across jurisdictions and disciplines.

DC Fire Department uses an enterprise version of Google Maps to improve fire department and other agency asset management by overlaying resources an dother information on maps used during incident response.

Video is produced by the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal and instructs emergency responders on the hazards of highway emergency response and proper incident strategies, tactics and safety procedures to be implemented when operating on a highway incident in the State of North Carolina.

The goal of the Freeway Incident Management (FIM) training course is to initiate a common, coordinated response to traffic incidents that will build partnerships, enhance safety for emergency personnel, reduce upstream traffic accidents, improve the efficiency of the transportation system, and improve air quality in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. Specific courses have been designed for both first responders and managers and executive level policymakers. Each course explains the goals, objectives, and benefits of multi-agency incident management coordination and training.

TIM practitioners, trainers, and managers

Readers can view information on the Freeway Incident Management training course as well as sign up for training

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in conjunction with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) prepared a video detailing the impacts of Traffic Incident Management on our nation's highways.

All TIM Responders and practitioners

Users can view the video as well as share the link with interested individuals and practioners

The Michigan Department of Transportation (DOT) operates two Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Centers across the State to monitor traffic conditions through the use of ITS technologies. As a part of this Initiative, MDOT publishes monthly reports on the performance of the MITS Centers, specifically regarding roadway clearance time. These reports provide an effective example of how to present a range of TIM-related performance measures in a user-friendly and comprehendible manner. Please note that these documents refer to roadway clearance time as incident duration.

Transportation practitioners can view this document to see an example of how Michigan reports roadway clearance through its MITS Centers across the State in an informative manner that is easy to comprehend.

This website provides a graphical interface where users can view incident clearance time statistics in Virginia at the district level, sorted by incident severity, incident type, and date of occurrence. On the website, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) refers to incident clearance time as incident duration. Users can also view details on each incident and view a graph that tracks the percentage of incidents cleared within specified time frames.

TIM Program Managers, other practitioners, and the general public who are interested in learning about how VDOT monitors incident clearance time.

Users can view this website to learn more about how VDOT tracks incident clearance time and view the data in an easy-to-understand format.

This Fact Sheet provides an overview of safe, quick clearance (SQC) laws in the United States, describes benefits of implementing SQC laws, and introduces the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) SQC Outreach Initiative. The fact sheet also presents the objectives of this outreach program and previews expected outreach materials from this Initiative.

Agency executives, decision-makers and transportation/public safety professionals interested in implementing SQC laws in their state; managers, elected officials, and members of the general public who want to learn more about the benefits of enacting SQC laws.

Users can learn about SQC laws in the United States and view a brief overview of FHWA's SQC Outreach Initiative.

Summary presentation describes MnDOT's multi-disciplinary TIM Program (FIRST). Presents sample results of performance measures for incident clearance times, including trends over time and demonstrating efficiency of FIRST teams compared to individual responder groups. Highlights recent and proposed improvements such as automated crash forms. This report is not available online. Please send an email to TIMPM@dot.gov for a copy of this presentation.

TIM Program Managers and other practitioners interested in or responsible for performance measurement.

These slides may help TIM Program Managers and other practitioners generate ideas for evaluating the effectiveness and value of their TIM Programs, reporting/presenting performance measurement results, and improving a TIM Program.

Video is produced by the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal and instructs emergency responders on the hazards of highway emergency response and proper incident strategies, tactics and safety procedures to be implemented when operating on a highway incident in the State of North Carolina

Video is produced by the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal and instructs emergency responders on the hazards of highway emergency response and proper incident strategies, tactics and safety procedures to be implemented when operating on a highway incident in the State of North Carolina

This study evaluates the impacts of using traffic response patrols along the I-64 corridor in St. Louis, Missouri, during the two-year full closure of the corridor. There are two documents, a two-page executive summary of the findings from this study and a 13-page full report. MoDOT reconstructed over 10 miles of roadway and 30 interchanges as part of this project, and redirected traffic to arterials during the two full closures. MoDOT found a benefit-cost ratio of 8.3:1 associated with implementation of their arterial service patrol program, and used performance measures to evaluate the success of this program. The study also offers recommendations for implementing traffic response patrols in other areas across the country.

TIM Program Managers and other practitioners interested in or responsible for performance measurement, specifically relating to service patrols and the evaluation of these programs.

Users can view these documents to learn about how MoDOT used arterial service patrol programs during the closure of Interstate 64 and how MoDOT evaluated the use of these service patrols. Users can also see how several performance measures were used to gauge the sucess of the program and view an approach to calculating the benefit/cost of service patrols.

This document provides an example partnership agreement between regional traffic, public safety, and emergency first responder agencies in the Las Vegas, NV area. This agreement describes the need for the TIM Coalition in the area, establishes the Coalition, and details the roles and responsibilities of the partners in the agreement. Partners include: the Nevada Department of Transportation and the Department of Highway Safety - Nevada Highway Patrol; the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (FAST); the Clark County Departments of Public Works, Fire, Environment, and Safety; and the Clark County Coroner's Office. This document is not available online. Please send an email to TIMPM@dot.gov for a copy of this agreement.

TIM practitioners and professionals looking to begin a multiagency TIM program or coalition in their area.

Readers can use this document as an example of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between agencies who are dedicated to improving TIM in their area. Example structure of a multiagency regional TIM Coalition, and language for each participating agency/'s role, can help others in development of their own MOUs.

This Fact Sheet provides an executive overview of the benefits of Traffic Incident Management (TIM) performance measurement (PM), and the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Focus States Initiative (FSI) which resulted in the consensus-based definition of three core performance measures: roadway clearance time, incident clearance time, and secondary crashes. Transportation and law enforcement leaders from 11 States participated in the FSI and agreed on shared definitions for common terminology to facilitate more consistent approaches and sharing of meaningful lessons-learned in TIM performance measurement. This fact sheet is designed to accompany the executive presentation (of the same title) or distributed alone.

Agency executives, decision-makers and transportation/public safety professionals interested in measuring program-level TIM performance; managers, elected officials, and members of the general public who want to learn more about the benefits of measuring performance to improve TIM.

Executives and stakeholders can use the fact sheet to obtain a quick understanding of the benefits of program-level TIM performance measurement. The Fact Sheet can be shareed with senior managers, elected officials, agency partners, and other key decision-makers to raise awareness about the benefits of TIM performance measurement. The Fact Sheet can be used as a handout to supplement the powerpoint presentation and talking points.

The Final Report for the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Performance Measurement Focus States Initiative (FSI) summarizes key outcomes, including challenges, successes and lessons-learned, gained by participating states through this initiative sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Transportation and public safety leaders from 11 States participated in the FSI and agreed on a set of core TIM objectives as well as shared definitions for three associated performance measures--roadway clearance time, incident clearance time, and secondary crashes--and common terminology, to facilitate more consistent approaches and sharing of meaningful lessons-learned in TIM performance measurement. The report documents participant experiences testing these performance measures, including institutional, operational and technical lessons-learned, and participant recommendations for advancing TIM performance measurement nationally.

Professionals in transportation or public safety agencies interested in measuring program-level TIM performance and learning from the focus states' experiences.

Users can learn about TIM performance measurement, its benefits, and approaches developed and tested by the 11 Focus States. Users can gain insight into institutional, operational and technical challenges, including integration and data exchange challenges, they are likely to face in implementing TIM performance measurement.

This study evaluates New York State's use of freeway service patrols (known as Highway Emergency Local Patrols in New York). This report details how the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) used a benefit/cost analysis to quantitatively evaluate the impacts of freeway service patrols and reviews the methodology and simulation parameters used to determine the benefit/cost ratio for the program. The State found an average benefit-cost ratio of just over 2 to 1, using conservative estimates of 1 driver per vehicle and zero commercial vehicles on the roadway. With a less conservative estimate of 1.15 persons per vehicle, 5% commercial vehicle traffic, and an average cost of delaying a commercial vehicle an hour of $49, the benefit/cost ratio grows to around 4 to 1 when NYSDOT deploys freeway service patrols.

TIM Program Managers and other practitioners interested in or responsible for performance measurement, specifically relating to service patrols and the evaluation of these programs.

Users can read this report to gain an insight into how New York State evaluates their freeway service patrol program and to learn about the specific simulation parameters that New York State used to calculate the benefit/cost ratio for this program.

This report evaluates the performance of the City of Houston, TX's SAFEClear program in 2008. SAFEClear is a freeway service patrol program whose goal is to help reduce the number of secondary crashes that occur as a result of congestion during peak hours. The program began in 2005. For 2008, the City exceeded their incident duration goal of clearing 98% of incidents within 90 minutes and 70% of incidents within 20 minutes, where incident duration is defined as the amount of time elapsed between the notification of the tow operator and the removal of the disabled vehicle. The City responded to 89.3% of tows within 6 minutes and the average number of collisions a month was reduced on average by 120 collisions, which translates to a savings of over 4 million dollars a month for taxpayers. The economic costs associated with the program are also evaluated and presented in this report. This document is not available online. Please send an email to TIMPM@dot.gov for a copy of this report.

TIM Program Managers and other practitioners interested in or responsible for performance measurement, specifically relating to service patrols and the evaluation of these programs.

Users can read this report to learn about the performance of the City of Houston, TX's freeway service patrol program, SAFEClear. The performance of the program is clearly presented through a series of graphs with textual explanations of the results.

Three types of general legislation - Move Over, Driver Removal, and Authority Removal laws - support concurrent Safe, Quick Clearance operations intended to enhance motorist and responder safety, as well as reduce congestion and delay. Although a number of States currently have one or more of these laws in place, observed variability in the existence, wording, and coverage of Quick Clearance Laws challenges further implementation. This report includes: (1) a description of the role and relevance of Quick Clearance Laws in the broader traffic incident management context; (2) a detailed review of the purpose and intent, model language, observed content trends and anomalies, and implementation challenges and resolutions for Move Over, Driver Removal, and Authority Removal laws including specific examples from State legislation; and (3) concluding remarks and proposed strategies for implementation, including beneficial synergy resulting from combined Quick Clearance Law implementation. Includes foreword by the FHWA Associate Administrator for Operations.

This report is intended for public agency management or administrative personnel and State and local political officials. Public agency management and administrative personnel will be better prepared to respond to arguments against the need for such legislation and to cite best practice examples of Quick Clearance laws. Through the use of this document, State and local political officials will be better prepared to develop and promote effective Quick Clearance legislation.

This report is intended to better support Quick Clearance Law implementation efforts by:
1. preparing States to respond to questions regarding the necessity of Quick Clearance legislation by documenting common motivations for and impediments to implementation; and
2. identifying examples from existing State Move Over, Driver Removal, and Authority Removal legislation that serve to both support and challenge successful incident management operations.

The Towing and Recovery Incentive Program (TRIP) of Georgia is an innovative solution that was developed to mitigate the congestion of tractor trailer incidents. TRIP is reducing the impact of major traffic incidents by aggressively clearing commercial vehicle incidents in less than 90 minutes! Notably, an independent performance measures study was conducted on the program and showed a benefit cost ratio of approximately 11:1. Implemented in January 2008, TRIP pays qualified heavy-duty towing and recovery companies monetary bonuses for the quick clearance of large commercial vehicle incidents in the Metro Atlanta area. The Program promotes safe, fast and efficient management of commercial vehicle incidents in an effort to reduce congestion, crashes and secondary incidents. TRIP is a result of collaboration among organizations including the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in close coordination with the Traffic Incident Management Enhancement (TIME) Task Force.

This manual serves as a field reference to enhance interagency coordination of first responders at traffic incident scenes on limited-access highways in the State of Connecticut. This manual suggests guidelines that do not replace, but rather enhance existing policies and procedures.

Hoosier Helpers is a Good Samaritan program offered by INDOT to assist stranded motorists on Indiana interstates. The purpose of the program is to help keep Indiana interstates safe, provide traffic control and medical assistance at crash sites, and offer limited road side assistance if needed. Since the program began in 1991, Hoosier Helpers have come to the aid of more than 350,000 motorists.
On Thursday, October, 13, 2011, INDOT announced that State Farm Insurance will be the exclusive sponsor of the Hoosier Helper freeway service patrol. The collaborative partnership is designed to create a long-term, supplemental funding source for the program, which is celebrating its 20th year of operation.

TIM program managers and practitioners interested in implementing a Service Patrol

Readers can view the website for more information about the Hoosier Helper program

The Severe Incident Response Vehicle (SIRV) Team is an immediate response unit for severe traffic incidents on FL's major freeways (i.e., I-75) such as full highway closures, fatalities, overturned commercial trucks, and any other event that may last longer than 2 hours. It carries specialized equipment and supplies such as bottled water, to support Safe, Quick Clearance of traffic incidents.

TIM Program Managers interested to implement or improve Safe, Quick Clearance policies interested to see some example programs.

This brochure and website provides TIM Program Managers seeking to implement similar Safe, Quick Clearance (SQC) improvement initiatives with an example of an innovative and effective SQC program, and provides contact information for where to learn more.

RISC  Rapid Incident Scene Clearance  is an initiative by FDOT to provide monetary incentives for private partners to clear major incidents more quickly in support of FL's Open Roads Policy. This is a copy of the RISC policy. This policy is most commonly implemented in incidents of complete roadway closures on limited access highways, where typical medium and heavy-duty wreckers are not capable of clearing the incident.

The Road Rangers is a service FDOT provides for basic roadside assistance for stranded motorists. It is managed and implemented in partnership with Florida Highway Patrol. This site provides information on the program, including contact information and service area for each FDOT District Road Ranger Program.

State and Local DOT or law enforcement managers interested to establish or improve a Full-Function Service Patrol.

The Florida Road Ranger Program is a model Full-Function Service Patrol Program and example of an effective collaboration between transportation and law enforcement agencies.

Provides excellent example of TIM performance measures summary reports (in this case Annual Reports). SunGuide is Floridas standard software suite for traffic management employed in all of their traffic management centers. Examples of its capabilities, performance measures reports created by District 6 (Miami-Dade area) using SunGuide are provided here.

TIM Program Managers and other practitioners interested in or responsible for performance measurement

TIM Program Managers can use these examples of annual and quarterly TIM performance measurement reports from two Florida districts--District 4 and 6. Reports include visual graphics and show how examples of how Florida proactively tracks and reports on TIM performance to maintain a top TIM program.

Provides excellent example of TIM performance measures summary reports (in this case Quarterly Reports). SunGuide is Floridas standard software suite for traffic management employed in all of their traffic management centers. Examples of its capabilities, performance measures reports created by District 4 (Broward County) using SunGuide are provided here.

TIM Program Managers and other practitioners interested in or responsible for performance measurement

TIM Program Managers can use these examples of annual and quarterly TIM performance measurement reports from two Florida districts--District 4 and 6. Reports include visual graphics and show how examples of how Florida proactively tracks and reports on TIM performance to maintain a top TIM program.

QuickClear is the state's traffic incident management program composed of several agencies, including ODOT, local and state law enforcement agencies, Fire, EMA, and towing and recovery services. These agencies work together to safely and efficiently clear traffic incidents on Ohio highways.

VDOT produces this Annual Report that includes various TIM measures. VDOT collects a number of different data elements for TIM issues.

TIM Program Managers and other practitioners interested in or responsible for performance measurement looking for examples of reports.

TIM Program Managers can use this example of an Annual Report on TIM performance measurement from VDOT to give them ideas for tracking/reporting on performance measurement. Reports include visual graphics.